Self-Discipline and Trust
Just as we should devote adequate time to preparing our hearts before receiving Holy Communion, St. Alphonsus also advises us to spend adequate time in thanksgiving afterward. He once told the story about a priest who spotted a man leaving church immediately after Communion. The priest summoned the altar boys, gave them lighted candles, and sent them to accompany the man home. “What’s the matter?” the man asked. “Oh,” said the boys, “we were sent to accompany our Lord, who is still present in your heart.”
St. Alphonsus observes that there is “no prayer more dear to God than that which is made after Holy Communion.” In those days, he noticed that many people devoted themselves to spiritual reading after receiving Communion. He recommended instead that people use this time for conversing with Jesus, who is within us. He went on to say that the “devout acts of love which we then make have greater merit in the sight of God than those which we make at other times, because they are then animated by the presence of Jesus Christ, who is united to our souls.
We may spend one, two or three hours in devout prayer, and our prayer is certainly holy and pleasing to God. Yet, when we spend one, two, or three minutes in fervent prayer right after receiving Holy Communion, our prayer may be more beneficial than several hours of fervent prayer without that sacramental presence. The power of the presence of Jesus gives life to our post-Communion prayer. It is precisely for this reason that it is so important to make the Eucharist the core of our prayer life. When we do this, we will then have the faith to seek healing when Jesus asks us, “What do you wish?” Then, healing is recognized as pertinent but secondary. The primary purpose is union with God and giving glory to him.
St. Teresa of Avila, one of the greatest mystics of the Church, was an exemplary model of Christlike charity and humility. In her writings we find that God gave St. Teresa mystical insights regarding Holy Communion, indicating to her that Christ remains spiritually present in a person’s soul after he is no longer physically present in a person’s body. Physically Jesus remains in a person’s body for perhaps five, ten, or fifteen minutes after receiving Communion, until the host dissolves and no longer has the chemical structure of bread. At that point, Christ is no longer physically present in the person. But St. Teresa of Avila pointed out that spiritually Christ remains in a person’s soul for much longer, “as on a throne of grace, asking the person, ‘What would you have be do for you? I have come from heaven on purpose to grant you graces; ask what you will, as much as you will, and you will be heard.” That revelation highlights the importance of devotion as an “afterglow” of receiving this august sacrament. This recognized “spiritual’ presence was the rationale in an earlier time (when people could receive Communion only once a month) for the practiced custom of spending two weeks preparing for Communion and two weeks in thanksgiving after Communion.
Other saints have also stressed the importance of devoting adequate time to thanksgiving after Communion. St. John Chrysostom noted that when we enjoy a delicious meal at a banquet, we savor every morsel and refuse anything bitter afterward so we will not lose the sweet flavor of the food we so thoroughly enjoyed. He advises us, therefore, to take great care not to lose the heavenly flavor of the Body of Jesus Christ by turning to the cares of the world too soon.
“When the merchants of India have brought home their precious porcelain,” St. Francis de Sales wrote, “they are very careful in conveying it to their storehouses lest they should stumble and break their costly wares. In like manner should the Christian, when he carries the priceless treasure of our Lord’s Body, walk with great care and circumspection in order not to lose the costly gift committed to his keeping.”
What, then, constitutes a good thanksgiving? We should complete our union with Jesus by sincerely offering ourselves to him. Nothing can be more intimate than the union that takes place between the Creator and his creatures in Communion. If we stop a moment to think about it, it is a mystery that baffles thought: the Son of God comes into our hearts under the appearance of bread and wine. The Creator has humbled himself to enter the hearts and souls of his creatures. Whereas we would normally proclaim, “How great is the Lord and greatly to be praised,” our natural response might now be to say, “How small is the Lord and greatly to be loved.”
The immense love that Jesus has for us should be the focus of our attention. But Jesus’ love for us should evoke, in turn, our love for him. Love must be mutual to produce union. We must return love for love. Out of his love for us and our love for him, we then can offer him the only thing we have to offer him, and what he values most: our hearts. There is nothing more pleasing to Jesus that a person who is determined to serve him. If we offer ourselves to him to do as he pleases, to serve him with all the fervor we can, to avoid sin, and to accept the bitter and the sweet that come our way, then our Communion will really be just that – a union with God.
The second element of our thanksgiving after Communion is a time of petition. Our first and foremost petition should be that God will grant us the grace to fulfill everything we have promised to him in offering ourselves to him. At the same time, we can really take advantage of – in a good sense – the beneficence of Jesus in our soul. As St. Teresa reminds us, he is there as a king reigning in our hearts, offering to grant us whatever we seek that conforms with his will.
We need to remember this when we receive him in Holy Communion. He is present within us and is asking us, “What do you want?” Are we just going to shuffle away and not do anything? Are we just going to swallow the host and do nothing more? This is a time to give Jesus our love and our faith. To trust him. To ask him what we want to ask him and let him heal us.
Indeed, Jesus wants more for us than we want for ourselves! Do we want to be saved? Jesus wants to save us more than we want to be saved. Do we want to be forgiven? Jesus wants to forgive us more than we want to be forgiven. Do we want to be healed? Jesus wants to heal us far more than we want to be healed. If we do not receive salvation, forgiveness, or healing, it is not due to a lack on Jesus’ part; it is due to some obstacle we have placed in the way. We must be on the alert not to allow obstacles like worldliness and distractions to block his path.
It takes some persons a lifetime to learn the simple fact that God, in his loving compassion, wants more good for us than we want for ourselves. We need to learn to respond to God, because he is there, ready to respond to us. We need to ask in order to receive. We need to abide in him, so that he abides in us. As I pointed out in my book When God Says No: 25 Reasons Why Some Prayers Are Not Answered, the obstacles to successful prayer of petition come from us and not from God.
A third element that should characterize our thanksgiving after Communion is praise. Jesus is present within us in the temples of our hearts. We are carrying Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, in our hearts. Songs of praise and rejoicing should welcome him. As an example, we need only to recall Mary’s song of praise and rejoicing when she was carrying Jesus in her womb:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
My spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;
Behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me,
And holy is his name. Luke 1:46-49, NAB
Although nothing in Mary’s outward appearance distinguished her from other pregnant women, in the depths of her heart she was living out the closest possible union between God and one of his creatures. She was a living tabernacle where the Holy of Holies was residing. Unceasingly she prayed that she might adore the Word made Flesh within her, that she might be united more closely with God and be transformed by his love, and that she might join in offering continual praise, which in the only homage worthy of the almighty and omnipotent God. When we receive the living Jesus into our hearts at Holy Communion, we too become temples of the living God and share in this prayer of Mary. We should strive to live in this spirit of continual adoration of the Trinity dwelling within our soul.
We have a lot to look forward to! Through the Eucharist, Jesus is giving us a foretaste of the banquet he has prepared for us in heaven. Are we enjoying it, or are we simply skipping through it? Are we simply blundering our way through all these precious treasures? Are we like an infant who has inherited a billion dollars but does not know it and cannot spend it? Are we in possession of a treasure that holds no meaning because of our own immaturity in coping and dealing with it?
Are we appreciative and thankful for God’s gift to us? Are we bursting with gratitude for this greatest of gifts? To facilitate our response, it is good to recall again and again that provocative statement used by St. Augustine in the fourth century: “The only thing God does not know is how he could possibly give us a gift greater than himself.”
This excerpt is from the book The Healing Power of the Eucharist, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Books, an imprint of St. Anthony Messenger Press. This and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.